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Meatless Monday Introduction

There are a ton of sustainability trends sweeping the internet, so finding which trends are legit (and easy) is quite the task. Meatless Monday is one of the larger global sustainability trends focusing on food consumption and personal health–as well as a means of caring for the environment. This trend is one of the only sustainability trends that I actually follow that was created and surround an online community.

So what is Meatless Monday?

The title in and of itself is pretty self-explanatory. Meatless Monday is a movement to cut down on meat consumption globally, by asking its participants to go one day a week without eating meat. This movement originated during WWI for a number of reasons and then was reintroduced in 2003 by a man named Sid Lerner. You can learn more about the history of the movement by clicking here.

There are many benefits not only to personal health, but to the environment as well. Some benefits include:

Personal health– It isn’t healthy to consume outrageous amounts of meat. There are many studies that prove this such as this one and this one. Consuming excessive amounts of meat–red meat in particular–can lead to diabetes and heart problems, among others.

Effects on Climate Change– As you can see here, meat production is one of the leading causes of climate change. The meat packaging industry produces tons and tons of greenhouse gasses, which cause an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature. Cutting down on meat consumption would lead to less methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor being released into the atmosphere.

Water Conservation– Meat industries use an estimated 2,000 gallons of water for a single pound of beef (source). That is a lot of water. With freshwater disappearing and droughts taking place all over the globe, cutting down on water usage is good for everyone.

If the entire U.S. stopped eating meat and cheese for one day a week, it would be the equivalent of not driving 91 billion miles (source).

How to get involved:

Getting involved is super easy! I’ll be posting my Meatless Monday recipes here on asimplenarrative.com under the tag “Meatless Monday” to make them easy to find! There are also recipes and tips here that you can choose from to get involved. There are other things you can do to get involved as well!

Ask your family and friends to join in! It’s a lot more fun to be vegetarian for a day when you have the support of your loved ones. Finding meals is like a fun (easy) adventure!

Post about it on social media. Use the hashtag #meatlessmonday and spread the movement. It’s so important that we make this thing a team effort!

Understand your impact. Get educated about your personal impact on the food industry. Becoming educated is key in helping this crazy wonderful world we all live in. Not only does education help motivate you to do your best to minimize your impact, you can also share your knowledge with the other people you know to create a fun community of conscientious global citizens.

Healing our beautiful planet is a team effort, and every single individual can make a difference. Every time you choose to go vegetarian instead of eating meat, you make a difference. Together we can still save this world.